RKS British Literature: “Beastly” and “Lovely” Learnt at Expensive English Boarding-School (George Orwell)

“Elizabeth was sent for two terms to a very expensive boarding-school. Oh, the joy, the joy, the unforgettable joy of those two terms. Four of the girls at school were ‘the Honourable’; nearly all of them had ponies of their own, on which they were allowed to go riding on Saturday afternoons. There is aContinue reading “RKS British Literature: “Beastly” and “Lovely” Learnt at Expensive English Boarding-School (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A Life of Lies of the British in India (George Orwell)

“Your whole life is a life of lies. Year after year you sit in Kipling-haunted little Clubs, whisky to the right of you, Pink’un to the left of you, listening and eagerly agreeing while Colonel Bodger develops his theory that those bloody Nationalists should be boiled in oil. You hear your Oriental friends called “greasyContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Life of Lies of the British in India (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A Hatred of British Imperialism in India (George Orwell)

“The Indian Empire is despotism-benevolent, no doubt, but still a despotism with theft as its final object. And so to the English of the East, sahiblog, Flory had come to hate them from living in their society, that he was quite incapable of being fair to them. For after all, the poor devils are noContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Hatred of British Imperialism in India (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A Third-Rate Public School Experience in England (George Orwell)

“From that school he went to a cheap, third-rate public school. It was a poor spurious place. It aped the great public schools with their traditions of High Anglicanism, cricket and Latin verses, and it had a school song called “The Scrum of Life’ in which God figured as the great referee. But it lackedContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Third-Rate Public School Experience in England (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Almost Always a Mistake to Order That Second Bottle of Wine (George Orwell)

“Gordon wasn’t being witty any longer. It is almost always a mistake to order a second bottle. It is like bathing for a second time on a summer day. However warm the day is, however much you have enjoyed the first bathe, you are always sorry for it if you go in for a secondContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Almost Always a Mistake to Order That Second Bottle of Wine (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Thievery of the British Empire (George Orwell)

“Why of course, the lie that we’re here to uplift our poor black brothers instead of rob them. I suppose it’s a natural enough lie. But it corrupts us in ways you can’t imagine. There’s an everlasting sense of being a sneak and a liar that torments us and drives us to justify ourselves nightContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Thievery of the British Empire (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A Public Bar in London: Home of Proletarians (George Orwell)

“Gordon shoved open the door of the public bar, Ravelston following. Ravelston persuaded himself that he was fond of pubs, especially low-class pubs. Pubs are genuinely proletarian. In a pub you can meet the working class on equal terms-or that’s the theory anyway. But in practice Ravelston never went into a pub unless he wasContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Public Bar in London: Home of Proletarians (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A Covert Socialist Embarrassed with His Wealth (George Orwell)

“But in some ways Ravelston was not even like a moneyed person. The fatty degeneration of the spirit which goes with wealth had missed him, or he had escaped it by conscious effort. Indeed his whole life was a struggle to escape it. It was for this reason that he gave up his time andContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Covert Socialist Embarrassed with His Wealth (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Master and Beggars in Burma! (George Orwell)

“No natives in this Club! It’s by constantly giving way over small things like that we’ve ruined the Empire. This country’s only rotten with sedition because we’ve been too soft with them. The only possible policy is to treat em like the dirt they are. This is a critical moment, and we want every bitContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Master and Beggars in Burma! (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: A British Colonialist’s Hatred of Orientals (George Orwell)

“Ellis really did hate Orientals-hated them with a bitter, restless loathing as of something evil or unclean. Living and working, as the assistant of a timber firm must, in perpetual contact with the Burmese, he had never grown used to the sight of a black face. Any hint of friendly feeling towards an Oriental seemedContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A British Colonialist’s Hatred of Orientals (George Orwell)”